Love me by day leave me by night
by chaosRUBEDO
Summary: Harry is in love with Cedric and Cedric loves Harry. Unfortunately, Harry is haunted by a memory of someone that doesn't want to leave Harry in peace. Can Cedric pull Harry out of the darkness that he is being pulled into? Slash HP/CD, HP/TMR
1. Prologue

Love me by day; leave me by night

By chaosRUBEDO

A/N - Hey everyone! I have come back with bigger and better ideas and, most importantly, more developed ideas. I will finish this fic even if it kills me. I am planning on an update at least once a week but that isn't a guarantee. I'll be sure to keep everyone posted. Also, the first few installments should be quick. They are pretty much done anyway.

This fic is a bit of a challenge to myself. I have developed a love for two specific pairings when reading over the many Harry Potter stories available. I want to bring those two together into one great tale...at least, I hope it will be a great tale. Anyway, I'll stop talking now. Please bear with me as things get going. Let me know what you think.

Warnings: The rating is going to fluctuate a little. Some chapters will be tame with barely even the briefest hint of profanity. Others will be full on NC-17 with smokin hot man love. If you have a problem with two men engaging in sexual activity, I suggest you forget you ever stumbled upon this page. There will also be a lot of dark stuff here. Angst, mental abuse, physical abuse, self inflicted harm, some non-consensual sex and (somewhere near the end) explicit death. Please only read if you can handle things getting as dark and dirty as it gets. I'll be sure to clearly mark at the beginning of the chapters that are true danger zones.

Disclaimer: Harry Potter and all things associated with it are NOT mine. Believe me, a lot of things would be different if Harry truly was all mine to play with. Props to JKR for writing the series!

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Prologue

When everything is dark, you cannot see. You are blind and can only stumble around and hope for even a small glimmer of light. You are helpless and alone. There is nothing you can do.

When everything is light, you cannot see. You are blind and can only stumble around and hope for something to cast a shadow and block out some light. You are scared and alone. There is nothing you can do.

Light and darkness really aren't that different when you think about it. None of us can truly stay within one of them completely. There always needs to be a shadow within the light. There must always be a glimmer of light within the dark void. We need them both to even hope to stand a chance in this crazy world of ours. The question is, do we take the shadow filled light or the speckled dark veil?

I think all of this as I stand at a crossroad. There are numerous paths sprawled out before me and none of them seem any more desirable than the other. Each path is filled with pain, hardships and awful decisions that must be made. No matter what, I would have to lose something important to me. No matter what, I have to lose.

I feel so tempted to just let myself fade away; to drip into non-existence so as to avoid what must be done. Why should I trouble myself with this? I can just fade away and let someone else deal with this mess. Who knows, maybe without me around, the tangled web I created could just sort itself out. Everything that I made wrong could be fixed by my disappearance. I just want it to all be over. Please just let it be over.

Screams of pain and agony draw me away from my internal struggle. Seeing the two figures before moving around in their sinister dance force me to see what I want so much to escape. I can't run. I can't just leave things as they are. There is to much on the line to be this selfish. I made a mess and I'll be damned if I just let things go without even trying to do something.

As I take that first step forward, wand drawn, I know what I have to do. I can't even hope to ask for forgiveness after this. I can only hope that he knows how much I love him. There is so much that I have yet to say to him that I wish I had. There is so much that I wish we had had more time for.

I braced myself as I raised my wand, waiting for a lull in the battle that waged before me. At least this way, things will end by my hand. When they stopped moving for a brief moment to catch their breaths, I wasted no time.

"Avada Kedavra"

I know it's short but that's pretty much what a prologue is, right? Don't worry, the actual chapters won't be nearly this short. Think of this as a bit of a teaser. Chapter 1 should be up sometime by tomorrow night. I hope you liked what little you got to see. Please review.


	2. Nothing Else Matters

Chapter 1

Nothing Else Matters

A/N- Hey guys! See, I told you that the chapters wouldn't be as short as the prologue. I would like to say straight away that I know some of the ideas for this story aren't completely original. It's just hard to come up with some of these things while trying to get the desired result. I promise things will start to go their own way after the back story stuff is done (which should start next chapter). I hope you guys enjoy!

p.s. I'm sure it will be obvious, but this story almost completely ignores DH. Things that did happen and things that didn't will become clear as you read. Just give it time please.

Warnings: Not much for this chapter. Things are still happy right now. :)

Disclaimer: A constant reminder that I do not nor will I ever own Harry Potter. This is just for fun.

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I was never much of an early riser. I would choose sleeping in till noon while staying awake into the wee hours of the night any day. I suppose with a childhood like mine, such things were to be expected. I was always forced to rise as early as humanly possible to do endless amounts of chores for my aunt and uncle; lest I refuse and find myself bloodied and unable to move for the next few days and still be expected to complete my chores. That's also why I developed a love of the night hours. When the Dursleys were asleep, I didn't have to worry as much about my safety. Sure, I had to be careful not to wake them, as that would be a worse fate than pissing them during the day. As long as I was quiet though, I had the world all to myself. Well, at least until morning when we started our careful waltz once again.

Therefore, when I found myself being shaken from my sleep at what I was sure was nowhere near the time I prefer to wake up for school, I was not in the greatest of moods. Already this day wasn't looking to be a great one. Until I registered the voice that was trying to wake me that is.

"Harry. Harry, wake up." I knew that voice. It was a voice I didn't wake up to often, much to my displeasure. As I began to respond to his voice, the memories of the previous night started to come back to me; an unintentional smile coming to my face.

"Harry James Potter, if you don't get up now I'm going to have to resort to drastic measures. I'll give you to the count of three. One...two..."

"You wouldn't." I groggily mumbled, still not wanting to get up despite the happiness I felt at waking up like this.

"Oh, I wouldn't would I? Three." I jumped higher than I thought was possible as ice cold water was thrown, no, hosed onto me no doubt with the help of my asshole of an angel's wand. All thoughts of going back to sleep were completely erased from my mind. "I gave you plenty of warning hun. You should have listened." He said with the biggest grin on his face.

I looked up and met that grinning face with an attempt at a scowl that melted as soon as I laid eyes on him. I found myself staring into the deep gray eyes of Cedric Diggory, my boyfriend. Even after these three years that we have been together, I still can't believe that I get to call Cedric MY boyfriend. I can never help but smile whenever I look at that man; and I do mean man. There is certainly nothing "boy" about Cedric anymore. His muscles have developed a lot more since he was seventeen and have added to his size greatly. I sometimes can't believe how much bigger he is than me, being as scrawny as ever myself. Cedric tells me that I have toned up in the past few years but I think he's a little biased. I don't complain though; as long as I can call him mine, nothing else matters. I get to keep this beautiful man all to myself.

"Was that really necessary?" I said trying to sound angry and failing miserably. "Couldn't you have, I don't know, just tickled me or something?" He seemed thoughtful for a moment.

"I suppose I could have." A wicked grin crossed his face. "But I much preferred doing it with the water. You make the cutest little yelp when you're surprised like that." I blushed at his words. Did I seriously yelp? "Besides, I think you enjoy being tickled a little to much if my memories from last night serve me. If I went that route I fear we would never have made it to class on time." He kept a cheesy grin plastered on his face the whole time as face began to blush further.

Despite being a little embarrassed, I was glad we had this time. I would never give up moments like these. A lot had happened to us since that fateful night in my fourth year in the graveyard. It still amazes me that we both walked out of there alive. The memories still haunted me, always making me think of the way things could have been.

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"Kill the spare!" The words shook through me and threatened to tear me apart at the seams. I wasn't even thinking. I lost all control and just let my body do the work. My mind would only get in the way right now.

"No! You can't have him." I shouted as I jumped in front of the boy I had come to care for so much, possibly even love. I don't know how I crossed the distance as fast as I did and I didn't care. The monster before me wasn't going to add Cedric Diggory to his list of lives taken. Wormtail was halfway through the incantation of the killing curse when his master's voice penetrated the air.

"No! It seems this pretty boy means a great deal to Harry. Save him for later. I want to be the one to rip him out of Harry's life myself." With those words and a few flicks of the wand in his hand, Wormtail had Cedric hanging in midair by his ankles and me bound to a stone slab; both of us completely helpless. I had a feeling that nothing short of divine intervention could save us...

And I think that's what we got and then some. The events that took place that night still amaze and confuse me. The only things that really registered with me at the time were that Voldemort, the darkest and most dangerous wizard to ever walk the earth had just been resurrected, and he had his sights turned on me and Cedric. He wanted to kill me, but he wanted to make sure I suffered first. He even let me have my wand back, thinking there was no possible way I could get out of this given my somewhat limited supply of defensive spells. Well, any spells that could do anything against the dark lord anyway. I thought everything was over.

Once again that night, I was brought to that primitive state that took over every fiber of my being. When Cedric became the target of Voldemort's rampage, I lost all control. I could feel my arm move, and I could feel that familiar feeling of magic flowing through my body and into my wand. I wasn't doing any of it consciously though. I was just along for the ride. Whatever it was that was controlling me wasn't entirely quick enough to throw Voldemort off his game completely, but it was enough to turn his attention to me. Beams of light shot from our wands and a connection was formed.

I don't claim to fully understand what it was that came forth from Voldemort's wand. The shadows of those that had died at the hands of that vicious man helped me that night and I have never stopped being grateful. With their help, I was able to run to Cedric and call the portkey that had brought us to that sinister place in the first place. I had done it once again; I had survived a run in with the most dangerous wizard who ever lived. Thankfully this time, I didn't have to give up someone important to me to do it.

A lot of things happened after that. It was revealed that Professor Moody was really Barty Crouch Jr. all along and he was captured and eventually kissed by the dementors. The Minsitry then began immediately on their smear campaign to keep any knowledge of Voldemort's return on the down-low. That certainly involved making Dumbledore, Cedric and myself look like complete neurotic fools.

As difficult as things were, I could never stop thinking about how hard things were for Cedric. He wasn't as used to being in the spotlight as I was and I was always afraid that he wouldn't be able to handle it. Not that he ever really had to, as the order had decided right away that Cedric had to be hidden away so Voldemort could never find him. After we had returned from the graveyard, we became very open about the relationship that had developed between us over the past year; a relationship that Voldemort had picked up on very quickly. With that, it was Dumbledore's decision that Cedric would always be protected by somebody from the order. I never understood why Cedric could so easily be hidden and yet it was alright for me to still go about my normal life, but I wasn't inclined to argue as long as Cedric was safe.

Of course, being under the protection of the order like that meant he wasn't allowed to return to Hogwarts. It was thought that it was best not to keep Cedric and I to close together. Being the secretive man that Dumbledore was, there was never more of an explanation than this. I always wondered if he had more reasons for keeping us apart, I just never had the opportunity to find out before he died.

Cedric tried not to show how upset he was by what was happening to him. I know full well that he really wanted to be at Hogwarts finishing his schooling with me as well as helping everyone fight in the war. Those few times that we ever got to be together, we usually wound up talking about school. Those were the types of things he wanted to know about. I think he used what I told him to help get himself through his lonely days.

Eventually, Voldemort did die and the war was over. By the end of the summer before the start of my seventh year, I had fought Voldemort and had somehow walked away from it victorious. By that point in his life, the dark lord had gone mad with power and in the end, that's what brought him down. He took on a little more dark magic than he could chew. And now, he is dead, and Cedric and I are both free and back in school together. Cedric was able to pick up where he left off and started his seventh year at the same time I did. We are now classmates and very much in love. Speaking of which...

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I can tell immediately that I must have been stuck in my own thoughts for quite a while. Cedric is looking at me with that understanding look that we share when one of us slips into the past. We both fear what could have happened, as much as everyone says we should start living in the present and be grateful that everything worked out. I was first to break the silence.

"Sorry about that. Couldn't help it." I say with an apologetic smile, knowing it didn't take much to throw either of us into these moments. I always felt awful when my flashbacks started his. I didn't think he should have to suffer like that. After all, I was used to suffering; he wasn't. He waved the thought aside though.

"Don't even worry about it. You and I both know it's not something we can control. It just happens. Now come on, let's go. It's almost time for breakfast and we both need to head back to our rooms to clean up."He said as he got up and began to dress.

I began to look around at the room of requirement, a room we made good use of. We had decided to use it last night to spend some quality time together and must have fallen asleep. Not that I'm complaining of course. Like I said, I love waking up to this gorgeous man's voice.

"If you don't get a move on I'm going to spray you again." He said as he playfully reached for his wand.

"You can spray me all you want. I would prefer that it wasn't with the water though." I said with (what I hoped was) a sexy grin. He looked at me slightly shocked for a moment.

"Harry Potter! Was that a sexual reference I heard from my sweet, innocent angel?" This was a bit of a joke between us. There was a time when I used to blush at even the thought of the word sex. Needless to say, being with Cedric had made me a little less bashful when it came to these things.

"Just shut up and get that hot butt of yours over here for a kiss." He obeyed eagerly. As much as Cedric reminded me of Hermione with his slight obsession over school and his studies, he was always willing to drop everything for a kiss. He placed himself on top of me in his semi dressed state and tenderly placed his lips upon mine. I could feel the passion pouring out from the kiss. It was usually like this. It never ceased to amaze me how much we still had moments like this after all these years. I never stopped thinking how lucky I was. Regardless of anything else that could be happening, these moments made them all seem so small. As long as we were together, nothing else mattered.

All to soon for me, the kiss was over. He looked down at me with nothing but pure love and devotion in his eyes, and I mirrored them right back to him. "Get dressed love. I'll meet you in the great hall." With that, he gathered the rest of his things, threw a wink my way and left the room. God, it still amazes me what that man can do to me.

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I made my way to gryfindor tower without to many people seeing me. The walk of shame is the walk of shame no matter where you are though. I think some people definitely noticed that I was still in the clothes I was wearing last night. Oh well, not like I really cared that much. It was a night spent with Cedric and I'll be damned if anyone makes me feel bad about that. Although, there was one person who always seemed to make me feel a little guilty about being out until morning.

"Harry! Are you just getting in?" Questioned Hermione with a concerned look on her face. She was never very happy to find that I had been out the entire night. It's not that she disapproved, far from it actually. She has been one of the greatest allies Cedric and I could have asked for. She just didn't like us to be out breaking the rules like that. There were a few faculty members that would be thrilled to have a reason to bring us both in front of Headmistress McGonagall because of our relationship. Some people just couldn't let go of their prejudices, even after seeing what they can lead to.

"I'm sorry Hermione. We didn't mean to stay all night but we just fell asleep. Nothing happened though so you can calm down. Besides, I'm an expert at breaking the rules by now. It'll take a lot more than a late night out for them to catch me." She smiled at this despite what I'm sure was a raging battle in her head to try and be firm with me.

"I'm just worried. I don't want anything to happen to you two."

"Don't worry. We'll be fine." I said with as big a smile as I could muster to try and alleviate some of her worries. "Has Ron come down yet?"

"No, I don't think he's going to either. He didn't look good last night." She said with a worried look on her face.

"I think this is the first time I have ever seen you not accusing him of faking."

"That's because I've never seen him look like this before. I tried to get him to go to the hospital wing but he says he doesn't want to just yet. Said he'll get there on his own." It was clear that she was worried. I was sure that there was nothing seriously wrong with Ron but Hermione had been a little more protective of him lately. Another effect that the recently ended war was having on people.

"I'll check on him when I get up there. I'll meet you down in the great hall in a bit." She nodded and headed off on her own. I began to make my way to my dorm room, not quite sure what to expect.

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I didn't see Ron right away when I got up the room. Just as well I though, I was in desperate need of a shower. After I got cleaned up and dressed, I made my way over to Ron's bed which had the curtains pulled in place. I slowly pushed them aside and found myself faced with a completely empty bed.

"What the hell? Where is he?"

"I'm right here Harry." Came Ron's voice from the door to the room. He wore a somber expression and looked as if he hadn't slept the previous night. He looked awful all right, although I doubt he was actually sick.

"Where have you been? And how did you get out unnoticed? I figured Hermione would have noticed. It seems she's been keeping an eye on you thinking you're sick and all." He barely even seemed to be registering what I was asking him.

"I borrowed your cloak. You didn't take it with you last night. I just needed some air."

"Ron, is everything all right? You don't look so good." I was genuinely worried. I didn't like to see my best friend like this. There was obviously something wrong with him and I was determined to get to the bottom of it. Before I could question further, Ron raised a hand so as to stop the questions I hadn't even been able to ask yet.

"Please mate, just let it go for now. I'll tell ya when I'm ready. I just need some time to myself for now. I'm not going to class today." I had never heard Ron talk like this. He was so...so sad sounding. Normally he plays his emotions so differently. I didn't know what to do other than to do what he asked of me. I almost missed his words of thanks as I was leaving the room. They were almost inaudible.

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Unknown to anyone of the living realm, dark plans were in the work. The thing thinking them was neither dead nor alive. It walked among a different plain; a plain that didn't truly exist. He didn't even really exist. He was there and yet he wasn't. He was nothing. Nothing, that is, that wanted to be something. The nothing looked out, seeing into a world that was no longer his own. His only connection to this world was weak but it was there. He planned to use it. He would have his way even if it killed him. Well, if he could die anyway. And if he was in a position where he could die, then that would only mean that he succeeded.

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There is is. I'm going to leave you with one little piece of information to chew over. Because Harry killed Voldemort so soon before he was meant to, A LOT of things that were supposed to happen never did. Think of this somewhat as the idea of the Final Destination movies. Not only death, but fate always tries to set right what went wrong. It wants put everything back on it's path before everything went amiss. It plays a slightly large role in how things will play out. Should have the next chapter up soon. Please review!!!!


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